


sleepytime tea for the holidays

by kbirb



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Arrow - Freeform, Canon Jewish Character, F/M, Hanukkah, Holidays, Jewish Holidays, Team Arrow, in which oliver remembers hanukkah, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-02 00:29:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2793203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kbirb/pseuds/kbirb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day 7: Oliver comes over late, after she has lit the menorah already. “Thea found the charm,” he explains. "Had to shoo her away before she unwrapped your last two presents. Took a while. Had to give her one of her presents early." He sounds nothing but affectionate.</p><p>Felicity dangles the mistletoe over his head. “You do know this is a Christmas tradition?” She asks.</p><p>Oliver kisses her, to her slight shock. “But then I could do that.”</p><p>Today’s charm is a tea kettle. “For our tea traditions,” says the note.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sleepytime tea for the holidays

_On the first day of Hanukkah, my true love gave to me..._

Felicity hummed to herself as she shuffled around her kitchen in flannel pajamas, brewing Sleepytime tea for herself, a nightly routine after the hectic going ons of "Team Arrow." Around this time of year, she often remembered moments from childhood, with the snow falling outside and drinking a cup of tea or cocoa while watching some movie she had treated herself to as a Hanukkah gift. When she was younger, she had attended Hebrew school every Wednesday and Sunday. She could vaguely remember the girl who had rewritten “12 Days of Christmas” into “8 Days of Hanukkah” and she couldn’t remember what was given every day. She did remember that it was much better than the rubbish “Chanukah Song” written by supposedly funny Adam Sandler and that she was 8 when her Hebrew School class song it cheerfully to the chagrin of their teachers. 

Felicity curled up onto the sofa, flicking her lighter thoughtfully in her hand. It had been a while since someone had celebrated Hanukkah with her, since her mom could only be bothered to fly out to Starling City at the most inconvenient of times. Not that Felicity minded… Much. She wouldn’t mind having someone to exchange gifts with, even if it was just a chocolate bar each night, other than the usual office gifts at Christmas. Barry had asked her what she was doing for the holidays and she was honest with him.

“Lighting my menorah.”

What she had wanted to add was the word “alone,” but there had been no point in bringing Barry down.

A light knock startled her out of her reverie and she dropped tea down her shirt in shock. “Oh, fuck…” She muttered, dabbing at her tank top with a blanket before getting up.

Whoever it was knocked again. “Calm down!” she said, pulling open the door. “Oh. Hi.”

Oliver smiled down at her, wincing at the split in his lip. Today’s nightly outing had been particularly rough and (loathe he was to admit it) Oliver had needed Barry’s help with a metahuman who had come into town. Before Barry had gotten there, Oliver’s face had ended up making friends with the concrete a few times.

“Hey, can I come in?” He was squirming a little in his peacoat and scarf, snow falling lightly on his shoulders

“Like dandruff.” Felicity laughed, then clapped her hand over her mouth.

Oliver gave her _The Look,_ which was what Roy called it. “You know, the one where he’s got love in his eyes and a smile that comes off as endearing but clearly perplexed?” Felicity had hit Roy then and told him to go find Thea, which was enough to shut him up. Mentions of Thea either caused Roy to get extremely worried or extremely quiet. Felicity knew how to work him.

“Er, sorry. Come on.” She stepped out of the way and Oliver passed her. Shivering at the static shock when his arm hit hers, she shut the door and turned with a smile. “So, what brings you to my part of town?”

Felicity was highly aware of the horrible 80s chick flick playing on her screen; it was her first night of Hanukkah movie. Five dollar bin at Walmart. She never really splurged on herself.

“Well, Thea isn’t home, I’m trying not to worry, and then I remembered that Hanukkah started tonight. And I also remembered you once _very quickly_ correcting me when I said ‘Merry Christmas’ to you a little while back.”

Felicity smiled. It always amazed her when Oliver remembered the little details of her life. Like how she liked Sleepytime tea at night (which he’d seen her drink like… once… yet he remembered) or how she hated snow outwardly but secretly loved snow globes and watching it fall while she was warm inside. And now he remembered, that while she rarely attended a service and never prayed thrice daily, she still had pride in being Jewish and celebrated Hanukkah.

“Yeah, uh, it is.” Felicity shifted and gasped as a - now cold - drop of tea slid further down her belly. She realized why Oliver still had a bemused look on his face; there was a large brown stain on her chest where she had spilled her tea. “I spilled my tea because you knocked and I wasn’t expecting visitors. Which you can probably see because I’m in pajamas and watching a horrible movie and just. Sorry. Wait here?”

When she came back, Oliver had settled on the sofa, coat and scarf hanging on the back of a chair in the kitchen. He was laughing lightly at something cheesy in the movie, the look of confusion (minus, admittedly, a certain element that _The Look_ contained) now directed at the screen. Each laugh also produced a wince and before entering the living room completely, Felicity grabbed Neosporin from the cabinet.

“Here,” she said, handing him the antiseptic. “Happy Hanukkah.” She joked. He smiled appreciatively (another wince, he really should just keep neutral, she decided) and spread a thin layer on the split.

“Not the worst movie,” he noted.

“Hanukkah gift to myself. I always get a shitty chick flick for myself the first night.” Felicity sat on the other end of the couch, now sporting a clean tank top, and tucked her socked (fuzzy, of course) feet underneath her.

They sat in silence for a while, Oliver stretching out after a while, resting his feet on her lap. Felicity attempted not to stare as he stretched, a small sliver of skin showing above the line of his jeans, and smiled to herself about the causality of their positions on the sofa.

About ¾ of the way through the film, Felicity slid Oliver’s feet off of her lap. “Tea?” She offered.

He groaned, jokingly. “No coffee?”

“Oliver, it’s the middle of the night.”

“Fine then. Tea.”

Felicity watched him out of the corner of her eye. He had sat up and was leaning against the arm of his sofa, chin in hand. She loved when he did this. Sometimes, when he was being patient, he would sit like this in the basement of the club, watching her hack into something. She often wondered if he knew he did this, but she thought it softened him, making him look younger and far more relaxed.

Handing Oliver his tea (one spoonful of sugar, just a dash of cream) she settled back into the sofa. With the way they were sitting, their toes just barely touched, and a nice comfortable feeling came over Felicity.

When the movie was over, Oliver shifted to face Felicity and she the same. Tucking her knees up and hugging them close, she watched as he fumbled around in his pocket. Sighing, Oliver got up and rummaged in his coat pockets. A victory “aha!” came from the other room and Felicity lifted an eyebrow in curiosity. Shifting around and craning her neck, she was annoyed to see him walking back with his hands behind his back, because then she couldn’t figure out what he was doing. Not that Felicity could ever figure out what Oliver was doing.

“Curiosity killed the cat,” he chided, sliding back into his spot on the sofa, hands still maddeningly behind him.

“And satisfaction brought her back,” she ventured hopefully.

“Happy Hanukkah, Felicity.” Oliver said, a small look of exasperation on his face as he held out a carefully wrapped box.

“Oh,” Felicity said softly, sliding her hands around the box. “I… I didn’t get you anything.” 

“You can get me a Christmas present,” he offered. “But I wanted to recognize your holiday, too.”

She was floored. _How are you so wonderful?_ She wondered, thankfully keeping this thought in her head for once.  
  
Carefully, she unwrapped the gold paper to reveal a blue box. “Holy shit, Oliver.” She sucked in her breathe. In her hands was a Tiffany box. Her hands were shaking as she removed the lid. In lay a silver charm bracelet with a little arrow dangling from it. A note underneath read “7 more to come.”

“Do you like it?” His voice was hesitant, worried.

“Like it? Oliver, this thing costs hundreds of dollars? Where are you getting the money from? Your family isn’t rich anymore. I mean, uhm, well, it’s just… I can’t… I love it.” She finished.

 _The Look_ was on his face. “It was nothing. You know I’d do anything for you.”

Felicity held out her arm and gave Oliver the bracelet. He slowly put it on, fingers lingering on her wrist. She smiled at him.

“Well, you gave me a gift. Shall we light the menorah? I was about to before you knocked.”

\---

Day 2: A little lion charm, because Felicity is a Leo. Oliver comes over with donuts and hot chocolate.

\---

Day 3: A long night, fighting wise. Yet Oliver still came over and lit the menorah with her. Tonight, she received a little computer charm. She reminds him, yet again, that most people buy 8 very cheap gifts and that he's spending far too much; she feels like she has to give him crap, or else she's selfish.

\---

Day 4: Felicity goes to Center City to see Barry and comes home to her menorah lit and a Tiffany box next to it. 

“How did he get in?” She wonders allowed. The box contains a little black pump charm, with a note saying _“how on Earth do you wear these every day?”_

\---

Day 5: More donuts from her favorite cafe. A snowflake charm today. Oliver says it’s for her love of snow globes. She loves him more and more.

\---

Day 6: A charm is slipped to her at work, because the night was too long to even light the menorah together. This one is a little mistletoe.

\---

Day 7: Oliver comes over late, after she has lit the menorah already. “Thea found the charm,” he explains. "Had to shoo her away before she unwrapped your last two presents. Took a while. Had to give her one of her presents early." He sounds nothing but affectionate.

Felicity dangles the mistletoe over his head. “You do know this is a Christmas tradition?” She asks. 

Oliver kisses her, to her slight shock. “But then I could do that.”

Today’s charm is a tea kettle. _“For our tea traditions,”_ says the note.

\---

Day 8: A charm that says “I love you" is left by her pillow to be found in the morning, because she'd fallen asleep sick the night before, drinking sleepytime tea with honey. 

**And he does. Love her, that is.**

**Author's Note:**

> I hope I did alright. I'm not Jewish and please feel free to comment any Hanukkah traditions you think Felicity would celebrate. I do know about Hebrew School and when it meets, just from growing up with many Jewish friends, so I thought that might be nice to add. I could totally see little Felicity at Hebrew School. I used Emily Bett Rickard's birthday to determine that Felicity was a Leo because I could only find F's birth year. I've never written with these characters, but I really wanted a Hanukkah story about Olicity, so I tried. Thanks for reading, please comment!


End file.
